Time Warner Cable gets HBO Go

Drawn-out negotiations come to a close

The long-awaited arrival of HBO Go to Time Warner Cable has finally come to pass after a full year of negotiations.

The nation’s second largest cable operator announced the pay net’s digital on-demand platform will be available free within the next month to HBO subs among TW Cable’s footprint of 14 million.

“We’re happy that Time Warner Cable customers will be able to enjoy this great product which provides streaming of HBO’s programming library,” said Eric Kessler, co-president of HBO.

That leaves Cablevision as the only major MSO that still has yet to reach a deal to bring HBO Go to its service.

Although they were part of the same conglom before the cable operator was spun off in 2009, there’s said to be little love lost between the companies, which led to drawn-out negotiations.

The HBO Go app has been download an estimated 5 million times, and generated 98 million video streams. Subs are able to feast on all current and library programming from the cabler’s trove of original series, films and documentaries.

But TW Cable subs also got some bad news Friday as MSG Networks, home to many pro New York sports teams, indicated it would be yanked from the MSO’s lineup if the companies can’t reach a deal on a carriage renewal.

“Unfortunately, Time Warner Cable is not interested in reaching a fair agreement, and, in fact, is not interested in conducting productive negotiations on behalf of its customers,” said Michael Bair, president of MSG Media. “Because of that, we suggest that our customers switch providers before Time Warner Cable pulls MSG’s networks off its systems.”